Frankfurt - German pharmaceuticals maker Merck KGaA said on Wednesday it is sticking to its full-year forecasts, despite a drop in earnings in the second quarter.
"We had a solid second quarter," said chief executive Karl-Ludwig Kley.
"This was primarily due to our healthy operating business. Especially in emerging markets, all our divisions performed well."
In the period from April to June, bottom-line net profit fell by 4.0% to €303m and underlying profit was down 3.3% at €767m.
Second-quarter revenues grew by 0.8% to €2.863bn.
"Owing to our business performance in the first half of 2014, we confirm our forecast for the full year," Merck said.
Overall sales would amount to €10.9bn to €11.1bn and operating profit would total €3.3bn to €3.4bn.